Bulls Aim to Upset Border in East London Rugby IPT Final

Bulls Aim to Upset Border in East London Rugby IPT Final

Border and the Blue Bulls will meet in their second successive SARU Women’s Interprovincial final on September 12 at the BCM Stadium in East London after the Pretoria team defeated Western Province 22-10 in a winner-takes-all match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Blue Bulls and Western Province entered the final round of pool matches this past weekend only two points apart on the log standings and under to pressure to win, knowing that a victory will allow either side to advance to the final.

The victory for the Blue Bulls allowed them to finish the pool rounds with 17 points, while Western Province dropped to fourth place on the standings behind KwaZulu-Natal.

Log-leaders, Border, meanwhile, defeated Eastern Province 50-10 in Port Elizabeth to complete the pool stages unbeaten. The final will mark the East London team’s third consecutive home final, while they will draw comfort from the fact that they won the title in 2013 and 2014.

In the other A Section fixture, KwaZulu-Natal beat SWD 53-15 at Outeniqua Park in George, while in the B Section the Leopards downed the Valke 81-5 and the Golden Lions emerged 50-12 victors against the Pumas in Nelspruit.

In Pretoria the first half was tight as the Blue Bulls and Western Province gave everything on attack and defence.

The hosts took a narrow 6-5 lead going into the break, but they stepped up their game tremendously in the second half and used their point-scoring chances well to increase their points tally to 22. Their defence was equally impressive, as they allowed Western Province to score only one more try to take their total to 10.

In Port Elizabeth the first half between Border and Eastern Province was equally hard-fought with the visitors taking a 7-3 halftime lead. But they ran riot on attack in the second half and increased their try tally to eight, while their solid defence limited Eastern Province to only seven second-half points.

KwaZulu-Natal were also in fine form in their clash against SWD as they dominated from the outset to build up a 22-10 lead before cruising to a 53-15 victory. The win marked their third in a row, while the defeat for SWD left them winless for the season.

For the KwaZulu-Natal team, in particular, this season marked a huge improvement on last year in which they registered only one victory in five matches.

The unbeaten Leopards and Free State will meet in the B Section final as a curtain-raiser to the final in East London on September 12.